It is known that some disorders, such as atrial fibrillation in particular, are treated by ablation techniques whereby radio frequency irradiations are applied to the heart tissue (in particular to the atrial walls) in order to restore normal functioning of the electrical conduction of the heart and reduce the occurrence of fibrillation.
These techniques therefore use a source of radio frequency energy which, besides performing the function just mentioned, involve heating the offending tissue and the tissue of the surrounding areas.
It is also known that in some circumstances, repeated and excessive heating of the tissue concerned causes swellings which, over time, may lead to necrosis putting the patient's health at serious risk.
At present, the heating level reached during cardiac ablation operations is controlled with the aid of complex mathematical modelling techniques used to create temperature maps of the treated areas.
These techniques are, however, not only extremely complex and expensive but also indirect, that is to say, they are not based on direct measurement of the temperature at the specific point affected by the risk of fistula.